This time I’ve got a review for you of the anime that made Kia Asamiya famous, (at which point you go “Who?”) or at least got him his brief runs on an X-Men title, as well as getting DC to give him permission to write “Batman: Child of Dreams” – which in turn made it back to the US with an English script by Max Allen Collins (which is a review for another time). Anyway – Silent Mobius – is it good, bad or ugly?

Director: Hideki Tonokatsu
Animation by RADIX
Based on the Manga by Kia Asamiya

Premise

In 2023, following an apocalyptic disaster, currently-rebuilding humanity finds itself menaced by alien beings called the Lucifer Hawk. In Tokyo, the situation has gotten so bad that a special branch of the police department, called AMP is formed to fight the menace of the Lucifer Hawk.

High Point

There are no love triangles in this show. One character would like to have a love triangle, but it’s a non-starter. After having seen many love triangles or situations where characters don’t come to terms with their feelings for each other, a lack of love triangles, (and in one case, the characters actually getting hooked up and staying hooked up for over 3/4ths of the show) is a refreshing change of pace.

Low Point

The series basically runs out of manga, but rather than coming up with a proper ending, for better or worse, it just stops. The manga still ultimately gives us a proper ending, but I’d prefer if we got a proper ending here. Unlike Berserk, where the manga goes on for quite some time from the end of the series (and which was structured an ultra-extended flashback anyway), Silent Mobius stops about 1-3 episodes away from thefinal showdown (depending on how fast you want to rush it.). The stage is set, the players are in their places, aaaannnndddd you have to read the manga if you want to get resolution and closure. It’s still better than Shaman King‘s ending, but I’d still prefer something more final.

Nudity and Violence

There is brief (non-detailed) nudity, blood, and there is some tame sex. There’s also some mis-use of religious symbols.

The Scores

Originality: It’s an adaptation of a manga but I must admit I hadn’t seen much like this before (though there are some tropes I’d seen before). 4 out of 6

Animation: The animation quality is a real mixed bag. There is some really good animation at portions in the beginning, very middle, and the end. But whenever they start introducing CGI in any form to the show it starts going downhill. 3 out of 6

Story: The story is very well, aside from my complaints about the ending or lack thereof. 3 out of 6

Voice Acting: The acting is pretty good – nothing really stands out as being really annoying, though Katsumi’s VA has a bad habit of chewing the scenery when Katsumi is taken over by Medium. 4 out of 6

Emotional Response: This show put me through the wringer. Just when you think that they’re just going to pull out near-death situation to near-death situation and keep it at that, they kill off Robert and all bets are off. 5 out of 6

Production: The sound quality is pretty good, the sound effects are iffy, and they new version of the OP they bring out as a heroic theme for the last episode is meh, and there are my existing complaints about the animation. 3 out of 6

Overall: Overall, it’s a decent show, but I might recommend reading the manga (which is now finished) before watching the anime, just so you can get an actual ending. 3 out of 6